* Kanji are logographic characters borrowed from Chinese. Each kanji represents a word or concept.
* Hiragana is a syllabary that represents syllables, primarily used for grammatical particles, verb endings, and words that don't have kanji.
* Katakana is another syllabary, often used for foreign words, onomatopoeia, emphasis, and names.
So, while "Japanese writing" is the general term, it's more accurate to refer to the specific systems of writing used: kanji, hiragana, and katakana.